The NBA announced Monday that it had renewed its television deals with ESPN and TNT for nine years, through the 2024-25 season. The league’s annual revenue from the agreements is expected to be upward of $2.6 billion, a dramatic increase over the $930 million it received in its previous deals.

A framework for a new “over-the-top” offering for Internet and mobile streaming

10 additional regular-season games for ESPN or ABC, bringing the total to 100

10 more exclusive regular-season windows

More team appearances

Live national rights to summer league and D-League games

750 new hours of NBA content

Aside from the windfall the league will receive with the massive deals, much has been made of the agreements’ impact on negotiations for the next collective bargaining agreement, which could come as soon as 2017, when the players and owners can opt out of the current agreement. It will also significantly affect the salary cap for 2016-17 and the players’ piece of the basketball-related income pie.

Starting late Sunday, when news of the NBA’s deals were first reported, speculation ran rampant on just how much these new agreements will transform the league:Read more…

The Atlanta Hawks controversy took on a new life Thursday, when the Atlanta Journal-Constitution published audio of general manager Danny Ferry’s conference call with other members of the team’s front office. During the June 6 call, Ferry and Hawks management were discussing potential free agent targets, one of whom was Luol Deng.

Now, a little background on one of the latest pro sports scandal (there are a lot these days): Hawks owner Bruce Levenson announced on Sunday that he would sell his interest in the team because of an email he wrote in 2012 that included his theory that the team’s black fans kept white fans away. On Monday, Yahoo Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski reported that the email only gained noticed because the team was investigating comments made by Ferry in regards to Deng:

“He’s still a young guy overall. He is a good guy overall. But he is not perfect. He’s got some African in him. And I don’t say that in a bad way. But he’s like a guy who would have a nice store out front but sell your counterfeit stuff out of the back.”

Mark Cuban has been one of the most outspoken owners on the Donald Sterling situation. (Eric Gay, The Associated Press)

Since the Donald Sterling scandal broke last month, Mark Cuban has been, perhaps, the most outspoken NBA owner on the issue, raising questions as to whether the NBA should oust an owner for private comments recorded illegally in his own home, even if the comments and actions are deplorable.

On Wednesday, the Mavericks owner and tech mogul continued to speak out on the topic in an interview at the GrowCo conference in Nashville, even admitting his own bigotry.

“We’re all prejudiced in one way or the other,” Cuban said in a clip from Wednesday’s conference. “If I see a black kid in a hoodie and it’s late at night, I’m walking to the other side of the street. And if on that other side of the street, there’s a guy that has tattoos all over his face — white guy, bald head, tattoos everywhere — I’m walking back to the other side of the street. And the list goes on of stereotypes that we live up to and are fearful of.”

In an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper that will air Monday, disgraced Clippers owner Donald Sterling apologized and asked for forgiveness for his racist comments that got him banned from the NBA and may force him to sell his team.

“I’m not a racist,” Sterling told Cooper. “I made a terrible mistake. I’m here to apologize.”

“I’m a good member who made a mistake, and I’m apologizing and I’m asking for forgiveness. Am I entitled to one mistake, am I after 35 years? I mean, I love my league, I love my partners. Am I entitled to one mistake? It’s a terrible mistake, and I’ll never do it again.”

Sterling also said that he has spoken to Magic Johnson twice since the incident unfolded, but hesitated when asked if he has apologized to the Hall of Famer for his comments.

“(Johnson) is a good person and he — what am I going to say? Has he done everything he can do to help minorities? I don’t think so. But I’ll say it: He’s great,” Sterling said. “I just don’t think that he is a good example for the children of Los Angeles.”

Donald Sterling is still talking and it’s again coming back to bite him. The embattled Clippers owner was banned from the team and the NBA for life and was fined $2.5 million for racist comments he made in recorded conversation with his girlfriend, V. Stiviano.

On Friday, Sterling told DuJour.com, “I wish I had just paid her off.” Since the tape of Sterling’s argument with Stiviano was published last weekend, the questions of why and how their conversation was made public at all remain unanswered. Stiviano’s lawyer claims that his client served as Sterling’s “archivist” but that she was not the one who released the tape to TMZ and Deadspin. Read more…

To offer his response to Adam Silver’s lifetime NBA ban of Donald Sterling, Nuggets point guard Ty Lawson found this photoshopped image that was making the rounds on Twitter on Tuesday and posted it on his his Instagram account along with this message:

V. Stiviano, left, Donald Sterling’s girlfriend, claims she was not the one who released the tape of his racist rant. (Associated Press file)

The attorney for V. Stiviano, Donald Sterling’s girlfriend, claims that she was not the one who leaked the tape of their argument that included Sterling’s racist rant and that she is “very saddened” by his lifetime NBA ban.

Mac Nehoray, Stiviano’s lawyer, told the Los Angeles Times that someone else released the recording “for money,” but that it wasn’t Stiviano. She “never wanted any harm to Donald,” Nehoray said. “My client is devastated that this got out”

He added: “It’s nothing like it’s been portrayed. She’s not the type of person everyone says.” Read more…

Shortly after he announced that Clippers owner Donald Sterling would be banned from the NBA for life and would be fined $2.5 million, commissioner Adam Silver published a letter to fans, thanking them for their understanding during the investigation and reminding them that Sterling’s comments “have no place in the NBA.” Below is the full letter:

NBA commissioner Adam Silver on Tuesday announced a lifetime ban and a $2.5 million fine, the maximum allowed per the league’s constitution, of Clippers owner Donald Sterling after the league found that the racist comments on a recording belonged to him.

Silver said that he was “personally outraged” by the comments that he “fully expects to get the support he needs from owners” to force a sale of the Clippers.

Following his announcement, Silver released a statement reiterating that “Mr. Sterling may not attend any NBA games or practices, be present at any Clippers office or facility, or participate in any business or player personnel decisions involving the team. He will also be barred from attending NBA Board of Governors meetings and participating in any other league activity.” Read more…

Chris Dempsey arrived at The Denver Post in Dec. 2003 after seven years at the Boulder Daily Camera, where he primarily covered the University of Colorado football and men's basketball teams. A University of Colorado-Boulder alumnus, Dempsey covers the Nuggets and also chips in on college sports.

Nicki Jhabvala is the Sports Digital News Editor for The Denver Post. Before arriving in Denver, she spent five years at Sports Illustrated working primarily as its online NBA editor, and she was most recently the overnight home page editor at the New York Times.